Don't make me frog it. You won't like me when I frog it.

My cool cotton crochet waistcoat

I love loveLOVE Lily Sugar n Cream cotton. I’ve been squirrelling away the odd ball or two of this lovely worsted weight yarn in various colour-ways for months, only dipping into the stash every now and then for small projects like the wash cloths I made for my mum. But then Woolwarehouse started stocking 400g cones AND had a 20% sale on all Lily Sugar n Cream yarn, and I knew I had to think bigger!

So I went back to this pattern for a draped front waistcoat that I made back in March in cheap acrylic DK. It was supposed to be in worsted weight yarn anyway, and I was pretty sure I could make it out of just one 400g cone, so out came the 5.5 mm hook and….

I think it looks great! Much better than the blue dk one I made.

In fact I’m so pleased that I’m going to do the unthinkable and post more pictures of me wearing it! (Don’t worry, if you scroll down you can still see the better pics that just show the waistcoat!)

Of course nothing goes on in or around our flat without a certain furball sticking her little pink nose in!

But she had already lost interest and wandered off before I took the proper close ups.

So what do you think? I’m thrilled with it! The shade I used is called Sage, and is maybe a teeny bit darker than the photos suggest, but not much. Sadly you can only buy six different colours in 400 g cones at the moment, but the 70 g balls are only £1.99 each and come in 35 different shades, so it wouldn’t exactly break the bank to buy it that way. (The stripes and ombres work out more expensive as they only come in 50 g balls.)

The pattern is so simple, and it’s worked all in one piece so there is no sewing up to be done. Just darn in your ends and you are good to go! There are a few rows of increases at the beginning, but the vast majority of the pattern is just two rows repeated. You skip a certain number of stitches to form the armholes, and at the end you work an quick edging all the way around, but other than that it’s basically no more complicated than one big rectangle. It drapes beautifully though, giving the impression of a much more complicated garment!